Why Feeling Uncomfortable Is The Key To Success

While it may not feel like it in the moment, a little bit of discomfort goes a long way in terms of personal development. Sure, no one likes feeling uncomfortable, but it’s a big part of improving yourperformance,creativity andlearning in the long run.

Routines may make you feel at ease and in control, but what a constant routine really does is dull your sensitivities. Think about the times in your life when you’ve driven the same route repeatedly: after a certain number of trips, you start tuning out most of it. Have you ever had a trip to the office where you barely remember what happened after you got in the car?

If you don’t get out of your comfort zone, you might find yourself tuning out much of your life on a daily basis.

But when you go out of your way to experience new things, or when you let new things happen to you, your body creates brand new neural pathways that fuel your creative spark and enhance your memory.

Inone study, researchers tested the memory of participants by showing them images which were rated as novel, familiar, and very familiar. The best results came when people were shown a novel image, followed by a familiar one. So, while repetition helps with memory, mixing in new information is important as well.

That’s why being uncomfortable is something you should embrace. Putting yourself in new and unfamiliar situations triggersa unique part of the brain that releases dopamine, nature’s make-you-happy chemical. Here’s the mind-blower; that unique region of the brain is only activated when you see or experience completely new things.

Few people actually enjoy the feeling of being uncomfortable. The challenge is to get past that initial feeling of wanting to return to the norm, so you can grow and benefit from that discomfort.

When you’re feeling uncomfortable about something, it can seem like there’s a drum beating inside your mind. There’s no way to make a sound decision when you feel like this, so you need to clear the noise. The best way to do that is different for every person, but it could take the form of reading, a good conversation with an old friend, or quiet meditation.

Neuroscientists at Brown University recently confirmed ina 2015 study that the key to “optimal inattention” lies in occupying your mind with something else through distraction. You can’t ever completely clear your head, but you can focus your attention to bring clarity of thought. When you concentrate your attention on one thing, you inevitably engage the parallel act of purposefully ignoring other things.

With that said, sometimes all you really need to focus and minimize discomfort is to do a brain dump. Get your ideas out of your head onto paper where you can physically see them. That helps to relieve and clear your mind.

2. Identify the source

It might be completely evident to you what the source of your discomfort is. What you may not be able to immediately recognize is why you’re feeling the way you are. What is it about the situation that’s triggering the feelings? Are you terrified of rejection from yourfirst outreach email? Are you embarrassed about being on camera in an explainer video? Do you need to pitch an investor and are suffering from imposter syndrome?

I can guarantee that scaling and growing a business is going to be a source of discomfort for a lot of entrepreneurs. Change can be a difficult pill to swallow for anyone, especially when the business you started – that’s been operating just fine and growing – suddenly needs to change.

“Just because you’re successful building a small business doesn’t mean you’ll be successful building a big business,” saysRobert Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad series of books. Sudden change brings discomfort you never even thought would surface.

The key is to recognize where it’s coming from so you can legitimize it and act accordingly. That leads to the greater reward.

In his book Linchpin; Are You Indispensable, Seth Godin wrote, “Discomfort brings engagement and change. Discomfort means you're doing something that others were unlikely to do, because they're hiding out in the comfortable zone. When your uncomfortable actions lead to success, the organization rewards you and brings you back for more.”

3. Reflect

Think about another time when something you did brought up similar feelings of discomfort. How did that play out for you? This is your opportunity to celebrate the small wins you previously had, and remind yourself of the growth that came from a previously uncomfortable situation.

At the same time, think about those situations where similar feelings and actions led to what you might deem as a failure. As Dr. Martin Seligman, founder of Positive Psychology, once said, “It’s not our failures that determine our future success, but how we explain it to ourselves.”

“I’ve never heard a millionaire entrepreneur say they hit it right the first time out,” says Steve Siebold, whose book How Rich People Think, is a culmination of 30 years of interviews. “The bigger they are, the more they’ve typically failed.”

And they use what they learn from those failures to counter discomfort, move forward, and finally take the plunge, despite feelings of uncertainty and doubt. Failure is an asset – and you should learn to see it that way. It’s a natural inclination to long for knowledge and answers so you understand how to better run your business – and know what to avoid. As long as you’re learning from your mistakes, then you become more valuable with each and every misstep.

4. Take the plunge

Many times, there’s so much you want to do, and you have so many ideas you want to explore, that you struggle to take action on any of them. That discomfort, fear, or uncertainty paralyzes you. That’s the point where you start listening to the doubts of yourself and others – and the voice in your head becomes a breeding ground for negativity.

If you feel uncomfortable, then you’re ultimately doing something right, but toe dipping outside of your safe space never really gets things moving. You need to dive in head-on and fully immerse yourself. That might be more stressful, but there’s no better way to get the process going so you move beyond that one thing holding you back.

Mark Zuckerberg once said, “The biggest risk is not taking any risk. In a world that’s changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking any risks.”

Of course, not all discomfort serves a positive purpose or will contribute to your growth. Standing in front of a moving bus isn’t recommended. You have to be selective about how, when, and why you’re embracing the discomfort of a given situation and how it can benefit you. Ultimately, you have to find the courage, awareness, and understanding that allow you to see problems and hurdles for what they really are: opportunities to grow and learn.

What’s the one thing that you’ve been trying to avoid because of discomfort? Share in the comments below.

I am the co-founder of Web Profits, a growth marketing agency helping companies leverage the latest and greatest marketing strategy to fuel their businesses.